Hike Leader:
Marc Bernatti423 261-2573

Hike Rating:
easy

Hike Description:
The hike takes place around the vicinity of Coker Creek, TN. It will
start up at the Unicoi Gap (TN/NC border) on Joe Brown Highway and
follow down a centuries-old travel route, ending back out on Joe Brown
Highway. At the start, just where this trail veers off from the Benton
MacKaye Trail, the deep wagon ruts and piled stone “walls” visibly
define the historic trail that was later built as a toll road. This
route through the Gap, the lowest point across the Smokies in this
region, was used by man for hundreds of years to cross over these
mountains. The Spanish explorer DeSoto is believed to have traveled
through it in the 1500’s, and it was also the route used to move the
Creeks that were rounded up for their relocation to Oklahoma. Later, it
was used to remove the Cherokees from NC and GA; it is now recognized as
part of the Trail of Tears.

On the way down, hikers
will pass the general area where a turnpike toll booth was located, a
Civil War era grave of a bushwhacked man, the site of the CCC (Civilian
Conservation Corps) Camp Rolling Stone, and cross over an old gold mine
dug into the hillside. The adventurous can try their luck at striking
it rich by crawling into the narrow and dark mine opening, since the
bears haven’t started their hibernation yet.

Depending on the number
of participants, we may be able to carpool from the Coker Creek Welcome
Center/Post Office. We will work out a “shuttle” arrangement with a car
or two parked at the bottom trail take out and another to take us up to
the Gap.

For those wanting a warm
up before the hike or a little cool down stroll afterwards, there is a
short level walking loop along Coker Creek at Doc Rogers Field. That is
located near the beginning of Joe Brown Highway where it veers off
Highway 68. The Doc Rogers Field entrance road is a few hundred yards
on your left, south of the Coker Creek Welcome Center/Post Office.

Directions to the Coker
Creek Welcome Center/Post Office
from Cleveland:
head east on Highway 64 through the intersection with Highway 411 at
Ocoee; continue quite a ways past Parksville Lake/Lake Ocoee on the
right until you get to Ducktown. From downtown Cleveland, this is
around 36 miles. Then from Ducktown go about 20 miles north on Highway
68. Total distance is about 60 miles and takes about 1.5 hours to
drive.

Directions to the Coker
Creek Welcome Center/Post Office from
Tellico Plains:
travel 10 miles south on Highway 68.

All parties will meet at
the Coker Creek Welcome Center/Post Office on Highway 68 (Monroe County
mile marker 34) at 2:00 p.m. If you need to make a cell phone
call, make it before leaving Ducktown or Tellico Plains.
There is no reliable cell signal outside of these locations.